Cyclone senior headed for Columbia University

Tracy Harmon Pueblo West, Fremont, Custer counties @tracywumps

Wednesday

Apr 15, 2020 at 8:01 AM

A Pueblo West senior who has traveled the country competing in speech and debate competitions and racking up some impressive awards has settled on an Ivy League college to further his education this fall.

Cenon Caramanzana, 17, has been accepted to Columbia University in New York City, an Ivy-league school founded in 1754. It is a bright spot in what has been a difficult senior year cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Last spring he had just won back-to-back state titles in the state speech and debate tournament. He was hoping to be able to compete again this year but both the state and national competitions have been canceled.

“I was able to compete in regionals for speech and debate and fill in at a mock trial competition, but ultimately the other competitions were canceled and it was really a disappointment. I had hoped to go to nationals for the last time in speech and debate,” he admitted.

“But things happen for a reason and now I am looking forward to my post-secondary education. I will major in political science with an emphasis in law, culture and society and minor in Spanish and American Sign Language,” Caramanzana said.

Before the stay-at-home precautions started, Cenon, whose name is pronounced Kee-nun, was hearing daily updates about the virus through the U.S. modern history course he was taking as part of a dual enrollment program with Colorado State University-Pueblo.

“We talked about how heartbreaking it was that this was happening in China and then in one week it changed. We realized it was going to exponentially grow and now we are where we are now,” he said.

The current situation is a bit surreal -- his advanced placement class exams are now take home exams and the classrooms have been swapped for online-learning.

“I am still getting used to the online e-learning software and it is not my favorite. I am thankful I can sleep in a little later and I wake up to talk to my friends on FaceTime or Zoom.

Technology has made it so we can adapt and still chit chat. We’ve made our own classroom setting,” he explained.

Caramanzana also is able to continue to conduct interviews for scholarships.

When he thinks ahead to graduation the sadness creeps in again.

“I was really looking forward to graduation, but I know that District 70 will make the best decision for the safety of everyone. I would argue they should probably postpone graduation because we all do deserve to be recognized,” he said.

Still, if the ceremony ends up being an online affair, he will be ready. He has been video chatting with his grandparents in Arizona via Zoom.

“I have been practicing my online Zoom graduation walk for them,” he said with a laugh. “You have got to find the little happy moments and go with them.”

Caramanzana first met with a Columbia University representative who traveled to Pueblo West to inform students here about opportunities available in New York. What followed was a grueling three weeks during which he worked on his application every day.

“I wanted to perfect my writing and I would write my essays and get comments and suggestions from my teachers and others in the community,” he said.

It paid off, but finding out he was accepted wasn’t that easy either.

“I logged into the application portal and the internet goes out and I thought, ‘Oh no that’s a bad omen.’ But I waited and tried again at like 11 p.m. and it started playing this video with Pomp and Circumstance with a message that said I had been accepted and was a part of the class of 2024 at Columbia University,” he recalled.

When he told his father, Jake, “he was in a state of shock” and his mother Courtney thought he was joking, he said.

“I cannot even begin to fathom the idea. I mean I can picture myself there, but I still am in a state of shock myself,” he said.

tharmon@chieftain.com

Twitter: @tracywumps

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